Fast-Paced Startup Founder? Hire Your First Internal Comms Manager (Before It’s Too Late)

Dear startup founder, we need to talk. 

You're on to something big.

You've got the grit, the growth mindset, and the initial funding.

You've gathered some great minds around you to turn your vision into reality, and they sure work hard. 

You’re in it for all the right reasons, aiming to disrupt the industry and make things better for everyone.

As your startup evolves fast, you’re making a lot of tough decisions that change everything and affect everyone, so it’s crucial to get your team on the same page.

Too bad you've accidentally brought onboard two sneaky misses that can potentially ruin everything: Misalignment and Miscommunication. 

Their mission is to create chaos, making everything harder for EVERYONE.

They’ve already visited other startups, leading to costly mistakes, loss of productivity, and low team morale, and now they are putting your dreams at risk. 

You need to get rid of them.

It happens to the best

Communication is like air, you only notice it when it stinks. 

Last week, I met the founder of a SaaS startup. With 35 hires and a few paying customers, they are still building their name and their offerings, pivoting every few months until they find their niche. After a series A funding, their newly appointed CMO ordered a full rebrand – new colours, new name, and a fresh marketing strategy.

It was a big change, but not everybody embraced it: Sales still use their outdated material with the old colour scheme, and the Customer Journey team uses a completely different language. This situation creates huge frustration within the feisty marketing team. There's no cohesive tone of voice – just a big hot mess. Information gets lost, teams clash, employee engagement drops, and this expensive branding move isn’t being used as it should. 

Not exactly a unicorn breeding ground, right? 

The startup founder told me she feels like they are trying to direct a movie where every actor follows a different script. 

Sound familiar? It's time to deal with that.

What happens when it’s too late?

As your startup scales fast, and you’re hiring the best professionals around the globe, you get to a point when you no longer can gather them all in a room, share your latest news, and hear everyone’s updates and feedback.

You’re growing. That’s great! But the stakes only get higher. With each new hire, org change, or pivot, the risk of miscommunication rises.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote that the kinds of errors that cause plane crashes are invariably errors of teamwork and communication. You need to put in extra effort on effective communication, or else you’re going to experience growing pains and disconnection. 

The solution? Upgrade your startup, hire your first internal comms manager.

Do you remember to communicate with your team regularly? If your people don’t get information, they make up something to fill the void, and gladly share it with their colleagues. 

You already know by now that communication is key, but internal communication at a fast paced startup takes an expertise and methodology that goes beyond intuition.

If you find communication to be a headache, hire an internal communication manager. Because just like entrepreneurship, communication is not just a skill, it’s also a practice.

The benefits of hiring an internal communication manager

As an internal communication manager in tech, I've experienced firsthand the pivotal role this position plays.

Internal communication managers upgrade your company culture and employee experience. They create great original content and experiences, deliver messages in creative and engaging ways, implement new tools and formats, and bring everyone together for townhall events and hackathons. And – they usually do all this with a very low budget. *wink*

If you’ve never met one, think of them as your in-house journalist, obsessed with your startup’s mission and people, making sure every piece of news and info hits the mark in real-time, and giving everyone a voice and a platform to share innovative ideas and feedback.

When is the best time to hire an internal communication manager?

RIGHT NOW. Well, as soon as you can.

If you look around you and find:

• Knowledge gaps, with employees unaware of the latest company news or product updates
• Communication silos, with different teams using conflicting messages
• Change fatigue, with frequent pivots leaving everyone confused 
• Disengaged employees, with a rise in communication-related complaints  

Don’t wait.

Hiring an internal communication professional could be the game-changer your startup needs to keep soaring.

Finding the ideal internal communication manager (is hard)

Your ideal internal communication manager is a people person with a strategic mind and outstanding communication skills (duh!).

They should be great at making the complicated simple and the boring interesting. Look for experienced candidates, or prioritize those with a background in journalism, HR, or PR.
Get super independent yet collaborative professionals who thrive in fast-paced environments, and are capable of adjusting their strategies as priorities shift. They should be tech-savvy (hello, employee experience apps!) and analytical, but even more importantly – empathetic and good listeners.

Ask candidates to explain your mission in their own words, and to write a fun message based on a product release note. Examine their portfolio for creativity and visual communication skills, and invite them over to meet potential colleagues and observe their interaction and culture fit. 

And after you hire them, trust them to do their job.

Can my HR team take on my internal communication?

HR can do their part of communicating org changes and new policies, but they sure have a lot on their plate already: handling recruitment and onboarding, managing compensation and benefits, and overseeing employee relations and compliance. You know, HR stuff.

Adding internal communication to their list of responsibilities could overwhelm them, leading to burnout and reduced efficiency. 

Besides, your HR might not have the right skill set; you need a dedicated internal communication professional to relieve the burden on HR, and to make a significant impact.

Can my PR team take on my internal communication?

Public relations professionals are good communicators, but your PR team's mission is to get your company story OUT – to the media, to investors, and to potential customers. They are fantastic at building brand awareness, connecting with reporters, and elevating your public image. 

While all comms professionals are natural storytellers, internal comms is focused on what’s happening within your company. It requires an intimate understanding of your employee as an audience, and of your company culture, history, future, and humor.

Separate these roles to make sure each function receives the special attention it deserves.

Can I just get a tool to do my internal communication?

Employee experience platforms and instant messaging tools are super important for your team collaboration and connection. There are a few amazing internal communication tools out there you are probably already using (Hi, Workvivo!).

But even the best comms tools can’t replace humans (yet). It takes a human being to interpret your current employee sentiment, adapt strategies in real-time, and ensure that the technology enhances – rather than replaces – personal interaction.

When it comes to internal communications, startups and companies that truly ‘get it’ see it as their competitive advantage. You need a human to do this job properly.

Better internal communication can transform your startup

Okay, okay – I get it, you don’t have time to deal with this now.

You clearly don't have the time to develop and implement a comprehensive internal communication strategy by yourself. 

So, just go and hire an internal communication manager to do this work for you. 

Your team – and your bottom line – will thank you.